Artificial Intelligence has written a pop song

The first song, “Daddy’s Car,” is a catchy, sunny tune reminiscent of The Beatles.
Image: REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
Stay up to date:
Emerging Technologies
We already know that artificial intelligence systems can work in law firms and beat the world champion at a game of Go. Now it turns out that AI can write some pretty good pop songs, too.
Researchers at Sony have been working on AI-generated music for years, and has previously used AI to create impressive jazz tracks. But this is the first time the Sony CSL Research Laboratory has released pop music composed by AI, and the results are impressive.
The first song, “Daddy’s Car,” is a catchy, sunny tune reminiscent of The Beatles.
Accept our marketing cookies to access this content.
These cookies are currently disabled in your browser.
The second song, a dreamy ditty called “Mr Shadow,” was created in the style of American musicians Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and Cole Porter.
Accept our marketing cookies to access this content.
These cookies are currently disabled in your browser.
The AI system, called FlowMachines, works by first analyzing a database of songs, and then following a particular musical style to create similar compositions. The final result does have a human touch, however. In the case of both songs above, French composer Benoît Carré arranged the songs and wrote the lyrics.
So perhaps humans are artistically necessary—at least for the time being. But Sony is preparing to release a complete album composed by artificial intelligence in 2017, and its plan is to create truly great AI music. Beyoncé and Taylor Swift: watch your backs.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Related topics:
Forum Stories newsletter
Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.
More on Emerging TechnologiesSee all
Fujiyo Ishiguro
March 11, 2025
Members of the Global Future Council on the Future of AI
March 11, 2025
Marie-Lyn Horlacher and Nora Rösch
March 11, 2025
Kim Lokwon
March 7, 2025
Nii Simmonds and Nii Ahele Nunoo
March 6, 2025
Chet Kapoor
March 5, 2025